Friday 16th October, 2020
Hi
Fabulous planting weather
It's great when one of your team are keen on growing their own seedlings and they offer up spare tomato plants to share with the rest of the team... I had already bought a few from one of the local garden centres to plant but welcomed a few more. Who doesn't love home grown tomatoes? But it never ceases to amaze me, the minute I start to get the more tender veges, like toms, eggplant and peppers, into the ground we get some of those cold wet days. I'm sure that these few cold nights will soon pass and, just as long as we don't get a frost, it will be all ok and those warm balmy days that we had just enjoyed will return. Overheard a client, in the shop, saying her spuds were quite advanced and I'm sure that there are many of you who won't want a random frost now.
I have to say though, I was more than grateful for the rain as it has not been a very wet winter here, at all, and the ground had certainly started to dry out to the point that I was a tad worried (not that one can do anything about it). I don't know about other areas but, over the past couple of days, we had a reasonably steady drizzle, which has been really well timed with some planting projects that we have on the go. We missed the boat on our Autumn plantings, due to lockdown, and then it got really busy in the garden centre with the potting season and then, well, just busy with spring stocks rolling in.
If any of you have been around the garden of late, you'll have seen that we have almost completed the plantings (and replaced a few that didn't make it). We still have to complete the creek plantings with wetland grasses and rushes and that rain was perfect to get them all going and will keep me planting for a bit longer... Lol making up for lost time! We have just laid in new gravel to address some wet areas just below the chook house and the next big project is to connect the new staff carpark with the display garden and convert the old chook house into a tool shed for the garden centre team.
Labour weekend is looming and it's the traditional weekend that most believe, well perhaps around the Waikato, that it's warm enough to get that summer vegetable garden well under way and I certainly do. While we don't sell vegetable plants as such, we do stock tuber lines such as potatoes and kumara. If you have ordered kumara, of the red variety, then we do have these in stock now for you to collect. I have to say that the other varieties of orange and gold are going to be later. They need some warmer temps to get the slips going. We are expecting the Gold next week but the Orange may be later still.
Potatoes, we still have a few bags of these left and, whilst you may not get some ready for Xmas, you will be able to harvest them later for summer eating. There are still some classics like Rua, Ilam Hardy and Nadine... then there are a few bags of Heather left, which I love as a spud ... if you are into trying something a bit different then give purple heart or purple passion a go. I'm sure you know the drill, dig a trench place the seed spuds about 50cm apart and cover, row them up as they grow.
I know that Ang has another good herb selection arranged on the tables, and she will organise more in time for Labour weekend. I even spied a selection of Basil, I would say it's still early to be planting this summer herb, but there is a great selections of all the culinary herbs that one must have in the garden, like
Parsley, Mint, Rosemary, Chives, Thyme, Fennel, Oregano plus others. I freely admit that I couldn't do without my herb garden in full production.
What's new in the Garden centre
Just putting it out there, on the What's New front, and relevant to this season of planting. Ang had a meeting with the guys from Daltons and has managed to get some new products, one of them being a certified organic fruit and vegetable mix with Zeolite Bioinoculant granules and organic nutrients, as we all like to know what goes into the food that we grow.
Another new product is Landscape fertilser pellets .. these are a complete nutrional pellet made up of all sorts of goodies... Blood and bone, chicken, sheep and horse manures, seaweed extracts, mineral Gypsum and other organic matter... seems to me that you cant go wrong in using this in all your plantings in the garden, a handful in every planting hole.
Salvias are a great family of plants including sage that we using in cooking and I consider this to be as pretty as some of the flowering ones that add colour to the garden. Usually considered as herbaceous perennial these make for good fillers and a splash of colour, check out Embers Wish, Love n Wishes, So Cool Glare and So Cool Violet.
Flowering shrubs
Deutzia
Nikko and
Compact Pink These shrubs show how amazing blossoms can be in the spring and the rest of the year as a decent shrub in the garden. Deutzia Nikko is just stunning with masses of small white flowers that just cover the entire shrub.. One of the smaller more compact forms to have. Compact pink for the want of a better name has just as its name suggests... pink flowers.
Standard lavender.. we have only ever had Major before but now we have for the first time
Ghostly Princess standards.
Leptospermums or good old fashioned tea tree manuka.. whatever common name suits you, most will know both. These don't seem to have lasted long in the garden centre this year and to that end Ange has stocked up as plants are getting in short supply this year. There are all the usual suspects like Burgundy Queen, Blossom, Crimson Glory and some of the later
Wiri series... check them out.
I am making the most of that, so needed, rain and keeping up on planting. I am getting my usual summer garden in, which keeps all of the family and friends in vegetables. I am still eating the leeks that I planted prior to lockdown... its amazing what you can actually grow to keep food on the table. I even offered my mother some more leeks the other day but she refused, LOL, as she was over eating them. I am planning to make a leek and chicken pie tonight... watch this space!
Hostas have just arrived. This is a large selection of hosta varieties, these are single tube lines at $8.99 each or buy 10 or more for $8 each. (We do have bigger if you are looking)
Ilam azaleas (deciduous) are just on the brink of opening their flowers, the buds are swollen and ready to display their gorgeous colour. These are the flamboyant section of the azalea group and colours of orange, yellow, pink and red abound.
Cornus, or dogwoods as many of us know them, are about to flower in many varieties, with some already having begun their display. These are attractive trees that often have a tiered arrangement of branches and when the flowers are displayed it often gives an impression of snow laying on the branches. These, as a rule, give lovely autumn colour and they offer a varied selection of leaf colour or
variegation. They enjoy full sun in humus rich soil.
Spring events reminder
Waikato Rose Society rose show will be held at the Hamilton Garden Pavilion 21-22 NOV
Franklin Hospice Garden ramble 14-15 NOV this is a great cause that can use all the support it can get.
33rd Taranaki Garden Festival and Taranaki Fringe Garden Festivals run concurrently from 30 OCT to 8 NOV
Waikato Horticultural Society has talks held monthly. Talks to be held soon are about Herbs and Lavenders
For information about these events just click the link to our
events pageIt has been a tumultuous year and it is now time to vote a government in again... I'm sure that all of NZ will be watching on Saturday night to see who is going to pave our way for the future. I have my suspicions who will get in on Saturday, due to what the polls are suggesting, but only on the night will it become evident.
Whatever your plans for the weekend make sure that its fun and enjoyable
Cheers Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team
